


Week After Week

by SimplyKorra



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 08:05:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3721417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyKorra/pseuds/SimplyKorra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It was just memories. Good and bad. Just memories and her face. A million different pictures in an album she wanted to keep forever."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Week After Week

**Author's Note:**

> This idea was just nagging at me. I've seen versions of this reversed so many times and I just wondered how Korra would react if she lost the thing she loved most. 
> 
> Sorry if it's sad, I'll be back to my regularly scheduled fics tomorrow.

Korra always appreciated the quiet more in the South. The hustle and bustle of Republic City never stopped. Here, it was rare to hear anything when the stars were out. The isolation was nice. Something she'd struggled to find in the last few months.

Isolation, certainly. But Korra had never felt more alone in her entire life.

It wasn't anything she was ready for. But honestly, she never would have been ready.

Tenzin was the first to suggest her coming here.

The first two weeks after were a blur.

Nothing more than a constant stream of tears and hurt.

People would knock on her door, she wouldn't answer. They would leave trays of food for her, she didn't eat. Korra felt bad, through her grief, that she was making everyone worry. They were grieving too. But she couldn't stop long enough to catch her breath.

It wasn't until her parents showed up that she finally came out of her room. Her father was strong and supportive. She remembered him sitting with her on the bed and not saying anything. He just sat there, for hours, while she cried and stared blankly out the window at  _nothing_  and let her mind wander.

That was the hardest part, the thoughts she couldn't escape from. The what if's and the what could have been's were daunting. Miserable. For days they flowed through her like water.

But he just sat there, and it was comforting, in a strange way. Not being alone helped, she finally laid down, closed her eyes. She didn't sleep, hadn't for days. But Korra rested as best she could just knowing that her dad was there.

Her mom was different though. She pushed, and to her credit, she needed to. Her mom made Korra get out of bed and take a bath. Made Korra eat and made her move around.

Senna tried to talk to her. Korra wasn't against talking she just couldn't find anything to say. Nothing could encompass what she felt. No words seemed big enough, no feeling was sorted out enough to make sense. She was just broken. She felt broken. More than Zaheer or Amon or any monster she'd faced.

It was the hardest demon she'd ever fight. And in the back of her mind, Korra knew she'd be fighting it for the rest of her life.

She could remember sitting in a bathtub as her mom carefully washed her. It felt silly, she could wash herself, she could do anything she wanted. Not like after Zaheer, when she couldn't move, when she  _needed_  help with these things.

Still, Korra accepted the help because she didn't want to be alone anymore. It was too hard.

"Maybe you could come home?" Her mother said, drawing Korra's gaze. "Not permanently, but just for a little while. To heal, like before."

At the time it sounded like a terrible idea. This was her home, it was their home. Korra could feel her everywhere in this city. In the bed they shared at the air temple. Why on earth would she wanted to leave that?

She said no, almost immediately she refused the offer and Senna dropped it.

Another week passed and Korra wasn't doing any better.

They buried her next to her parents. Korra didn't go. She couldn't. Even when Mako showed up and told her she should.

"You need to do this, Korra." He said, leaning against the frame of her door at the island.

Korra sat on her bed, legs pulled up to her chest, staring out the window. "I don't need to watch a box be put in the ground to say goodbye, Mako." She returned, not looking at him.

"But you're not saying goodbye. You're scared and I—"

"I'm not  _scared_  Mako!" Korra barked, the loudest she'd spoken in weeks. "I'm alone. I don't want to leave this room because I am all alone and I can't do it right now, okay?"

"You're not alone, Korra. You'll never be alone." He tried, he tried so hard. He cared about her too. Mako was always trying, but he wasn't enough.

Another week passed, and suddenly she hated the city.

Korra could feel her everywhere. There was no escape. She couldn't sleep in their bed, alone, anymore. She'd resorted to sleeping outside with Naga. Sneaking into empty beds around the temple. Even one awful night where she woke up in the middle of Avatar Korra Park asleep under her own statue.

Bolin was the one who found her.

"I never thought I'd personally know someone who had their own giant statue." He said, coming towards her as she propped up on her elbows and grimaced as the morning sun shined down on her. Korra looked up, staring at the image of her face. The girl looking back at her was so different. Hair long, dangling at the sides, wolf tail in the back.

_Just a child_. She thought.

"What'cha doing here, Korra?" Bolin asked, sitting in the grass next to.

Korra sat up, crossing her legs and tucking them close to her. "Don't know. Just…started walking and—" she gestured to her statue to finish the sentence.

"I remember when she built that." He said, smiling up at Korra's rock face.

Real Korra however, was gaping at him. "She…what?  _She_  built it?"

"Uh…yeah? You didn't know that?" He tiled his head at her and Korra looked up at the statue before standing to really see it. She took four steps back and looked it up and down.

Bolin did the same and he watched her. He watched Korra's eyes glisten and she knew he was preparing for another break down.

It was like a wave of love washed over her. Not painful though, it was just…love. For the goofy girl who stole her heart and built her this giant statue in the middle of the city.

No, she never told Korra that.

She covered her mouth with both hands and started laughing. Really laughing. So much so that Bolin thought she was crying.

That came, after the laughing, but it felt a little better. Bolin hugged her and took her back home.

The pain returned when she returned to the island, but she smiled a little more that day. Because of her dorky girlfriend and her giant statue.

Another week passed, Korra was ready to leave.

Tenzin told her over and over again that the city was going to be fine for a while. Korra knew he was right. But she couldn't just leave. Could she? It needed her. This city, it had lost so much. Just as she had. Could she really just up and go away?

"You need time as much as anyone, Korra. You've earned it."

Korra stood on the docks, her bags packed and sitting all around her. "Are you sure? I know with the new government in the Earth—"

"It's fine, Korra. We have things handled. Even if we don't, you're only a radio call away." He stepped up and placed both of his hands on her shoulders, looking her kindly. "I never really told you…how sorry I was about everything. I know you cared for her deeply."

Korra cast her eyes down. Her hair was longer now, she hadn't bothered to cut it and it hung in her face. She nodded quickly. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry today. Tomorrow probably, but not today.

"She was everything, Tenzin." Korra admitted, looking up at him again.

He pursed his lips and gave her a nod. He understood. He knew. Tenzin always knew.

Another week passed and Korra was lost.

Korra found herself here. In her home in the South. Wandering through the dark and the cold just searching for a little isolation.

Her parents were very good at knowing what she needed. Her mom would talk to her, never even expecting an answer. She'd just talk and chatter and bring up stories. They'd spent a little time with her parents when they were a couple. Korra knew they cared about her, liked her a lot. Trusted her with their daughter.

Dad was different, but just as good. He gave her work. Had her moving and kept her hands busy. It was nice. They'd fix things, build things, hunt things and practice bending. Just…anything to keep her moving so she could come home and sit on the couch in silence while her mom talked to her.

They tried, every single day they were there. Awake before her, doing things with her, for her. Every day.

Then one day, Korra woke up first.

She'd slept well the night before. Better than she had in  _weeks_  and decided to take a walk.

Korra sat in the snow, spelled her name out in it and smiled. It was the closest she'd come to saying her name since she lost her. Korra stared off into the sky and tried to reach out to feel something,  _anything_.

She closed her eyes and pictured her face. Thankful for the strong memories of every night they spent together. Every fight they fought together. All of it. Her smile and her laugh. That flip of her hair and the way she would stick her tongue out just a bit when she worked on her machines.

The tears fell again. Korra was fairly certain they always would in one way or another. But it wasn't pain. It was just memory. Good and bad. Just memories and her face. A million different pictures in an album she wanted to keep forever.

Another week passed and Korra wanted to feel better.

Katara's pool was always perfect, the healing waters she had could melt away any physical pain. And if you let them, any emotional pain as well. She would never ask for help, not from Katara. She'd given enough in her life to make up for two, maybe three lifetimes. But Katara had always had a connection to Korra, from the day she was born.

So when she showed up, hurting and struggling, Katara offered her a day in the healing waters.

They just sat together. Korra taking slow, deep breaths as Katara sipped on a cup of tea.

"What's your next step?" Katara asked, looking at Korra over her cup.

Korra frowned, she hadn't thought of that at all. Next step seemed too tall for her.

"I—I don't know."

Katara nodded. "Might be a good time to start thinking. You can't grieve forever."

"It feels like I can…sometimes."

"No." Katara smiled. "We can't do that because we know, deep down, that they wouldn't want us to stop. They never did, why should we?"

It was the truest thing she'd heard in  _weeks_. How could she stop when… _Asami_ , never did?

The city was destroyed twice, and she rebuilt it, twice. Her mother died when she was six, she came back. Her father died almost twenty years later and she came back. The world took her too soon, but Korra was still here.

She couldn't grieve anymore. She had work to do.

Another week passed and Korra returned to the city.

She worked, hard. She did as much as she could to help people. Using her bending to build things. Using her diplomatic position to push laws to help people. She traveled all over, visiting those who needed her. Doing whatever she could to bring balance to the world. Her job.

Asami never did anything less than the best she could. Korra worked for her. For them. For the world they fought for together. She told people about her. The wondrous engineer who she loved so much. Korra smiled through every story. Laughed at every silly thing her girlfriend did.

She went home and took Bolin out for noodles. They got takeout and took them to Avatar Korra park to have them under the giant statue her dorky girlfriend made for her.

She played with the airbender kids and meditated with Tenzin as often as she could.

Korra met Mako's new girlfriend. She sat with him during a pro-bending match and it felt like old times. Like they would have each other's backs forever.

Her parents called her, she was so excited. She was going to visit them soon. Bring all her friends. Have a celebration for Asami's  _life_. It was perfect.

Another week passed and Korra was finally ready.

She stood in the open field, staring at three tombstones but focusing on the one at the far right. The flowers she held were wilting, picking flowers was never Korra's specialty.

The tears were there, they'd always be there. But she let them flow, she needed them today. Asami would understand.

Korra knelt down in front of the carved rock, tracing her finger over the name.

_Asami Sato_

It was a name she would carry with her each day.

She sat the flowers down in the grass. Nestled tightly with the tombstone. She smiled.

"I miss you." Korra sat down, crossing her legs like she was face to face with Asami again. Her eyes closed. "I wanted you to know that I love you. I…never felt like I said it enough even though I said it every day. It was just that special to me. And…maybe even more special because I never doubted you felt the same way. To be…loved by you, Asami. is the greatest victory this Avatar will ever have."

Korra reached up and brushed at her cheeks, cleaning them of the fallen tears before she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a very small necklace. It had a lone stone in the center, bended just right.

Reaching out. Korra laid it across the rock. "For you, Asami. It could only be you." She took a deep breath as a strong gust of wind rushed through the air, fluttering her hair into her face and making her laugh.

The name stared back at her on the rock again. Korra dusted off her pants as she stood.

"I'll see you tonight." She kissed her fingers and touched the rock.

Endless weeks passed and Korra saw Asami every night.

**Author's Note:**

> Also just wanted to say, what happened to Asami in this wasn't important. You can put in whatever you like for that.
> 
> Thanks for reading (again, sorry)


End file.
